The omega-3 industry’s sustainability progress: GOED’s role

Acknowledging the importance of the omega-3 industry focusing on the environmental and social impacts of its raw materials, GOED’s board of directors determined the organization should formally measure and support improvements in the omega-3 industry’s sustainability posture on an ongoing basis.

Since then, GOED has:

  • Commissioned an industry “Horizon Scan” and full materiality assessment based on the Horizon Scan.

  • Commissioned a life cycle assessment (LCA) advisory and guide for companies that want to understand or compare the sustainability of their omega-3 products.

  • Surveyed its membership to understand the category’s self-reported sustainability position

  • Applied for membership to the UN Global Compact

LCA Industry Advisory

Because the omega-3 category encompasses diverse source species and geographies, no single sustainability standard would fit the entire industry. To address this, GOED has commissioned an independent white paper that will provide recommendations on “life-cycle assessment” (LCA) parameters for category members worldwide. LCA is a well-established, data-specific environmental cost accounting method that scientifically assesses the broad environmental impacts of a company's products. This omega-3-specific guidance will help industry members understand which impacts on biodiversity, emissions, and energy, land, and water use a company should consider when studying or communicating the sustainability of its products.


The guidance contains four major resources and an open-ended opportunity to collaborate with GOED. 


  1. A summary report characterizing the omega-3 category's LCA baseline status and key challenges
  2. A detailed, ISO-compliant high-level LCA methodology for the main categories of source materials used in omega-3s for humans and pets
  3. Life cycle data collection sheets based on the methodology mentioned above, specific to fish / marine animal products, algae-based products and GM oilseed-based products
  4. A December 2026 training open to all GOED members to learn LCA basics and how to use the data collection sheets. 


The chance to act: In exchange for their experience being written up as a case study for this Guidance Series, members can hire ESG consultancy LRQA to conduct a product LCA at a deeply discounted rate.

Horizon Scan and Materiality Assessment

GOED commissioned sustainable food consultancy Tasting the Future to catalogue the largest environmental, social or other governance issues on the horizon for the omega-3 category and the ways they intersect through a 2023 “Horizon Scan” analysis. In 2024, GOED commissioned the same team to write a “materiality assessment” — a specialized sustainability report that draws on stakeholder analysis and other methods to determine which sustainability issues call for urgent action from a company, industry, or other community.

Sustainability Survey of Membership

In that 2021 member survey, roughly 50% of leading omega-3 companies gave answers that would put them in the third or higher level (out of five) from consulting firm Ecochain’s five-stage “sustainability maturity model.” These companies referenced sustainability as something baked into the company’s core strategy. To continue to monitor industry progress, GOED will use a regular survey to benchmark the category’s sustainability maturity. This will assist industry members, regulators, financiers and consumers in understanding the category’s advancement on this important journey.

UN Global Compact Membership

GOED has also applied for membership in the UN Global Compact — a training and networking hub for globe-spanning organizations advancing the Ten Principles that help the corporate world contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Carbon Offsets by GOED's Management Team

GOED’s 12-person management team also uses the environmental impact platform Wren.co to model accountability by identifying and offsetting the carbon impacts of the team, both personal and work-related. Carbon offsets are not the optimal solution to climate change, but the GOED team is proud to use Wren to stay mindful of its emissions and contribute primarily to (1) the spread of carbon-reducing technologies, but also to (2) environmental policy advocacy, conservation and tree planting.